Halloween Baking Championship Season 6 winner spooked the competition

The Halloween Baking Championship Season 6 winner had a twist of fate.

The Halloween Baking Championship Season 6 winner finished the journey through the Food Network haunted house. After tackling creepy dolls, a costume ball and even the dreaded cellar, these finale bakers were ready to find their escape. Still, only one Halloween Baking Championship baker earned the coveted Food Network title.

For the Halloween Baking Championship Season 6 finale, four bakers entered the kitchen. Given that the finale was two hours long, everyone anticipated that there would be several twists and turns during the competition.

In the first challenge, the bakers learned that they had to make severed limb cakes. Additionally, two bakers would get a pass into the final bake, but the remaining two bakers would face a sudden death bake off. In a way, it was a like the pre-heat challenges from years’ past.

The idea behind these severed limb cakes was to make them life like. While Michelle choose to go zombie with her cake, the other cakes were more cartoonish that life like. It seems that anatomy is not taught in baking school (then again, why should it).

Of course, nothing is ever simple in a Halloween Baking Championship finale. The bakers had to include a medicinal twist. Those flavors were thyme, sage, licorice root or lavender. Lastly, they had to include an edible toe tag or hospital bracelet.

It was interesting that only Aaron made an arm. His idea of random arm pieces spliced together was smart. By being different, it stood out in the crowd.

And, as seen in previous challenges, Aaron can deliver big flavors. Given that he had to use lavender, he found the right balance without making the cake taste like grandma’s soap.

The biggest win for Aaron was his use of edible chocolate in the center of the cake. It made the cake feel like it had a bone in the middle. It was definitely the piece that secured his spot in the finale.

Renee took the least scary approach to her cake. As seen throughout the Halloween Baking Championship season, her cakes tend to be spooky but not extreme scary. Still, she delivers amazing cakes that awe the judges.

Renee’s Devils Food Cake impressed the judges with her use of different textures. The chocolate and praline were a lovely combination. And, her use of licorice root was balanced.

Renee earned her spot in the finale. Given that she had won the most challenges, it was a good bet that she would make the Halloween Baking Championship Season 6 finale.

Unfortunately, that meant that Michelle and Sinai were in the bottom. Both bakers had ups and downs in the competition and this challenge epitomized that scenario.

While Michelle took the smart approach of using a zombie theme, her cake had some issues. Similar to her parmesan cheese challenge, her use of thyme was a little exaggerated. It is hard to find the right balance of highlighting the flavor yet not over doing it.

Sinai had a little problem with the look of her cake. That backwards knee added to her spooky story.

The best part of her cake was the flavor. Her flourless dark chocolate cake with guava and cream cheese filling was a huge hit with the judges. Additionally, her use of sage was smart, although it was slight.

Still, Sinai and Michelle had to face each other in the cake off. They had to create goblin cakes, but those cakes were missing a key ingredient. Sinai couldn’t use wheat flour and Michelle could not use eggs. Those darn goblins played mischief in the kitchen.

With the help of the sous chefs, (Aaron with Michelle and Renee with Sinai), the bakers had to create a plated dessert that looked like a goblin. This challenge was tricky. While the flavors needed to come through, the goblin appearance in a plate dessert matters.

Michelle had a great peanut butter sandwich cookie. The flavors of peanut butter, chocolate and banana were on point. But, her dessert was a cookie, not really a plated dessert. Her goblin was cute, but it needed a little more.

Sinai made a vanilla financier with a raspberry mousse. Although her financier cake had an unusual texture due to no wheat flour, the flavors were good. Also, her goblin decoration for the plated dessert was nailed the challenge.

The judges choose Sinai to move onto the final Halloween Baking Championship challenge. While this haunted house theme has twisted its way through the whole season, this final challenge was difficult.

The bakers had to create floating cakes. Basically, the cake went from large to small and the cakes had to be suspended. These cakes were like edible mobiles. It was quite a sight to see.

In true Food Network fashion, they saved the hardest challenge for the end. A floating cake is not easy but the three finale bakers achieved great cakes.

Since Renee won the most recent main heat, she was able to choose her theme and assign the themes. Each cake was based on a dead spirit (hence the floating cake).

Additionally, the floating cakes had two twists. Each cake had to use coconut and the cake had to have a plaque for the dearly departed.

Overall, these floating cakes were stunning. More importantly, each cake was quite different in design and flavor.

As expected, Aaron pushed flavors. His goat cheese cream with cherries was bold. Unfortunately, his cake to filling ratio was off. Still, he had a very clear visual with his cake (except for the misspelling).

Renee delivered a great visual. It was probably the scariest cake of the whole season. Additionally, her flavors delivered. The use of the coconut in the caramel wowed the judges.

Lastly, Sinai went bold with the flavor. Her use of passion fruit and chocolate was sublime. Although her cake was the most simple visually, her cake delivered on the big flavors. From a flavor perspective she was floating above the rest.

The Halloween Baking Championship Season 6 winner was Sinai. This last episode proved that she deserved the win. It shows that flavor is always the best choice in these Food Network baking competitions.

Do you agree with the judges’ choice? What was your favorite Halloween dessert from this season?